The founder of Whittar of Chelsea is Walter Whittar. At the age of 17, Walter was dissatisfied with his father’s way of business, quit his family’s leather business, found a job as a tea merchant in central London, and began his life with tea. In 1886, Whelter opened its first store on Fleet Street in London. At first, it mainly sold tea, and then gradually added coffee and hot chocolate. They imported high-quality tea and coffee from Asia, and then carefully selected and blended the best products to sell to customers.

In 1890, Walter moved the franchise store to the famous Minging Lane Tea Street in London. After that, the “Whittar Original Blend” carefully prepared by Wharter and the “Barrister’s Refresher” specially customized for businessmen and lawyers were loved by everyone, and often famous people came to buy it. During the Great Depression in 1930, Mr. Walter also encouraged the public with “Opportunity Blend”.

In 1939, World War II broke out, and Mr. Walter’s two sons, Huge and Dick, joined the army and joined the British army. The war also affected the tea shop business, and the tea warehouse was attacked by the German Air Force. Later, the two brothers restarted their tea business in the Chelsea region. Relying on the good tea quality and sincere service, they attracted a large number of customers, which also enabled Whitstar to be reborn. In 1939, Whitstar officially became a household name of the British afternoon tea brand.

Now, more than 130 years later, Whitstar has become a British “national tea” that can provide nearly 600 different tastes. With its unique style, it has attracted many consumers. It is one of the necessary gifts for tourists to buy when they go to Britain. Its annual sales volume is 30 million pounds (about 300 million yuan). Its rich product variety, rigorous production attitude, innovative spirit of continuous development and careful service attitude make it famous in the world and become one of the world’s high-end tea luxury brands. Today, Whitstar has 55 stores in the UK, more than 130 stores in the British Isles, and more than 300 exclusive stores around the world.

1. The timeless British afternoon tea style

(1) Store design that is immersed when entering the store

The design of Whitstar’s store is very characteristic. Dark blue is its main color and one of the colors of the British rice flag. This color gives people a feeling of peace and comfort. In the UK’s franchise store, there is a tea wall full of blue tea cans; The simple English-style counter in the store allows you to see the goods at a glance. The displayed goods are colorful, but not out of order, like a tea museum; There are often warm colored bouquets in the store to create a warm atmosphere; The UK stores also have Tea Bar to enjoy the afternoon tea. These elements collide and merge to form a British fashion. Most of Whitstar’s franchised stores are set up in London, Nottingham, Oxford and other major cities, in line with its high-end tea brand positioning.

(2) Fresh and elegant design style

Whitstar’s high beauty packaging design always attracts people’s attention. All kinds of delicate packaging of mint green, night sky blue, dreamy purple, and girl powder are painted with retro and exquisite European print patterns, each of which can be used as a desirable gift. Whitstar also has a gift box with a sense of design, and a classic traditional tea bag gift box with fresh and colorful colors, which seems to put Makaron into the box; There are classic afternoon tea gift boxes. Each small tin can can meet people’s expectations for afternoon tea; There is also a new summer mini-can tea gift box this summer. The bright red, yellow and orange tea cans match with each other, which is full of summer vitality.

Most of Whittar’s tea sets are classic afternoon tea sets, and sometimes there are tea sets and packages designed according to festivals and anniversaries. For example, for the 150th anniversary of Alice, Whittar designed Alice series tea sets, white bone china tea sets and classic iron pots and tea boxes, with illustrations created by British illustrator and social activist John Tanniel for Alice in Wonderland, It makes people feel immersed in Alice’s magical situation when drinking tea.

Whitstar’s promotional films are also very characteristic. Whether in advertisements or product promotional films, there are often classic tea walls in stores, quiet tea tasting tourists, staff who patiently introduce tea products, lazy and comfortable afternoon tea scenes, and delicious mousse or ice cream, all of which are very harmonious and beautiful.

2. Never stop in quality and innovation

(1) Always provide diverse and high-quality tea

Whitstar sells a wide range of products, including popular tea, instant tea, coffee, hot chocolate, tea sets and small gifts. There are many different kinds of tea: black tea, green tea, mixed tea of fruits and herbs, flavored tea, matcha tea, oolong tea, Pu’er tea, South Africa’s national treasure tea, white tea, yellow tea and Indian tea. There are three kinds of packaging: bagged loose tea, canned loose tea and tea bag. In terms of price, because of the high quality, the price is relatively high. On foreign official websites, the price is between £ 4.5.00 and £ 15.50, while in China, the price is between 59 yuan and 209 yuan. The price varies according to the packaging and the type of tea.

As a century-old famous brand, Whitstar has the most professional team of tea tasting and tea mixing experts, the most systematic and scientific tea production technology, and raw materials are from natural and pollution-free areas. In order to provide the best raw materials, Whitstar has its own exclusive tea gardens in India, Sri Lanka and other places, such as Ceylon top black tea raw materials from Whitstar’s plantation in Sri Lanka. Whittar also insists on sorting tea by hand, and tries to package tea by ensuring its shape and taste. Whitstar has selected 100 best varieties and combined them into a series called “The Century Of Tea Collection”. These 100 kinds of tea include both classic hot selling varieties and some unique blended tea products of Whitstar.

(2) Lead the tea fashion with the spirit of continuous innovation

Mr. Walter, the founder of the brand, once said “Persistence for quality and innovation since 1886” in 1886, which also reflects Whitstar’s business philosophy. The idea of “To buy the best and blend the brightest”, which is still being advocated, continues this idea, which can be seen from the fact that it can now provide nearly 600 flavors of tea.

Whitstar will develop new tea according to the tastes of different types of customers, the efficacy of different raw materials, the tastes of different tea leaves, and different seasonal themes every other time, so that consumers who come to buy can find their favorite types, such as the special version of fruit flavored tea Toffee Apple launched to celebrate Halloween; At the beginning of this summer, the original cold bubble tea bags, such as sour and sweet lemon snow flower, fresh cucumber mint, and warm mango sand ice, were launched.

(3) Create a tea taster club with the help of the Internet

Whitstar has a unique activity: every once in a while, it will publish messages on social media, invite some customers to become “experience officers” of new or hot products, and share their feelings after the experience. For example, in China, on May 7 this year, five milk oolong tea experience officers were selected through microblogging channels, and on May 14, 12 new summer mini can experience officers were selected.

In addition, customers can also join the “Tea Taster Club”, and Whitstar will select two refined tea (blended tea) to be sent to members’ homes every month according to the principle of season. The setting of experience officers not only increases the degree of interaction with customers, but also plays a publicity role, and the special treatment of “tasting in advance” also narrows the distance with some consumers..

Summary:

Whitstar has captured the minds of consumers with the concepts of “high-quality blended tea”, “British style” and “afternoon tea”, and has been able to stand out among many blended tea brands and become one of the top ten luxury tea brands in the world. It knows how to keep up with the times and keep the brand young, how to carry out localized communication, and the importance of adhering to high-quality tea making. All of these make this “old brand” with more than 130 years of history still be alive today.